


What No One is Allowed to See

by Memetic



Category: Hylics (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Kissing, Nonbinary Character, Other, Post-Canon, Trauma, Tsunderes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26022736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memetic/pseuds/Memetic
Summary: What's he hiding behind that helmet?
Relationships: Dedusmuln/Pongorma
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	What No One is Allowed to See

The smoke began to fill Pongorma's lungs.

A few hours prior, he was convinced the sage's empire was going to come out of this conflagration slightly burned, but still standing. He'd seen how wrong he was. Not anymore, though. Now the smoke wouldn't let him see anything.

Tears formed on his cheeks, and evaporated seconds later. Just like the empire he had called home, his time had run out. He laid down and awaited the flames' embrace when he heard a faint voice calling his name.

"Pongorma."

Who could it be? The smoke still made it too hard to see, and the sound of burning and screaming obscured any attempt to identify the voice. But he could tell where it was coming from, and with the last bit of his strength, the teenager made a dash in its direction.

"Pongorma!"

He could tell he was getting closer. Not just by the voice's clarity, but by an ever-growing bright light that was beginning to envelop his senses. Somehow, in the midst of utter despair, he had found salvation, and he wasn't going to let this chance slip through his-

"PONGORMA! Wake up, it's your turn!"

He opened his eyes to see an incredibly agitated Dedusmuln staring back at him. Between the two of them was a table holding the archaeologist's newest discovery — a grid-based board, on top of which were various small pieces to be moved around. This was, as they described, a game that was once played between inhabitants of the old world. The former Dread Knight struggled to remember the rules of the game — he apparently must have dozed off during his last attempt at comprehending them.

Dedusmuln's horns curled inward as they sighed. "I knew we shouldn't have taken the airship. It's too easy to lose yourself in the gentle hum of the breeze, the purr of the engine, the thinning atmosphere..." They trailed off, listing more and more factors that did a very poor job of convincing Pongorma to stay awake. Briefly removing his helmet to rub his eyes, he interjected in his opponent's rant.

"You knew? You're the one who suggested we take the airship in the first place!"

"Only because you wouldn't agree to meet me anywhere else! I would have been perfectly happy holding this down at that New Muldul shop we both like, but you've dodged every single one of my requests up until now."

"I was just busy. Quit making excuses for yourself, Dedusmuln, it's unbecoming." Pongorma grunted and looked away. He would die before admitting it, but Dedusmuln was completely right. Ever since destroying the hylemxylem, he had ached to take another ride on the airship, above the clouds and any reminder of his past life.

"Whatever. It's pointless to press this now. Just hurry up and make your move." Knowing the conversation had reached a dead end, they picked up a nearby Wayne larva and began petting it as Pongorma's eyes returned to the board.

Pongorma, remembering enough of the rules to feel confident, began debating his options. If he moved the piece on the left, he'd have a shot at taking one of Dedusmuln's key pieces, but he'd make himself vulnerable as well. If he advanced some of the pieces in the back, he could potentially build a stronger defense, at the risk of letting his opponent move into place to take one of his best spots. If he had just convinced the sages not to give up their corporeal forms before ensuring the cities were safe from the attack, he wouldn't have seen them all die. All he needed to do was speak up. All he needed to do was not hide and play with the ambulant skulls, but you were just too scared to do that, weren't you, Pongorma? Gibby was right about you. All you do is hide from the past. Why didn't you join him? Why didn't you fix your biggest mistake? You could have seen her again. She would have accepted your apology, and-

"Pongorma."

"Hold on, I'm thinking."

"I know you're thinking. That's the problem."

"What?"

Dedusmuln sighed once again before pointing at a corner of the board. "Look right there. I've left myself perfectly open. This shouldn't be taking more than five minutes to decide."

"You're trying to trick me, aren't you? Let me be the judge of that." Pongorma looked at the move his opponent suggested, and thought about every possible counter-attack he could be baited into. There was nothing. He had absolutely no excuse for not moving there instantly. As he begrudgingly moved his piece to that spot, he was certain he could see a smirk develop on Dedusmuln's face.

The game continued for a few more moves. Dedusmuln was positioning his pieces across the board, a fact which Pongorma took advantage of as he knocked multiple members of their offense off while solidifying his base. Yes, it was all coming into place now. This was Pongorma's turf. He flashed back to when he first defeated Wayne and sent him to the Afterlife, the skin melting off his face as he clinged to his last burrito, holding his hand up as the ruthless warlord stood over him for one final snap...

Wayne...

His best friend, who he died for countless times...

He looked up at Dedusmuln. They and Somsnosa helped Wayne overcome his lack of experience, and together, the three of them brought him to his knees. He was so certain he was going to taste death for the first time since he lay huddled in that burning house, but when he looked up, he saw a gloved hand reaching out to him, and a smiling face on a yellow crescent head. The same head he had melted off a day prior. Why did he receive this mercy? Why doesn't anyone understand he's not worth saving? Why-

"PONGORMA!"

He immediately shoved the table back and ran off, messing up some of the pieces in the process. Without as much of a glance backward he climbed the ladder and ascended to the top of the airship.  
Dedusmuln stared blankly, the Wayne larva hopping off their lap to munch on a cookie. "Did I say something wrong?"

It had taken some convincing to get Old Wayne to let them use the airship. The pilot was a unique-looking Wayne, more feminine in appearance, with a tail swinging back and forth amidst the breeze. Pongorma wasn't comfortable removing his helmet in front of her, even though she was on the other end of the ship and not even looking his direction. The feeling of the wind hitting his helmet was enough, anyway.

Being on the airship, so close to the sky, reminded him of when he left the vault with his new friends — the first time he'd seen the sky in hundreds of years. It looked so much cleaner, so much more beautiful than it did in the years of the empire, that he almost began crying then and there.

Almost. But no one was allowed to see him cry. Not even with the helmet on.

"Why not?"

Pongorma gasped and turned around to see Dedusmuln standing right in front of him. In shock, he backed up — and tripped over the railing of the airship, falling headfirst off and plummeting to the abyss below. This made him breathe a sigh of relief; the impact was going to be painful, but it was a way out: he could get back to New Muldul from the Afterlife, and continue to ignore Dedusmuln's calls. As he closed his eyes and braced for impact, he slowly realized he wasn't actually falling, and in fact was being held very closely by the one person he was trying to avoid.

"Dedusmuln... what are you doing?"

"I'd ask the same of you. You got some meat you wanted to deposit?"

"Please let go of me, Dedusmuln."

"I need you to do something first."

"What?"

"Open your eyes."

"They are open," Pongorma lied.

"Nice try. Open them."

Not questioning how they saw through that, he complied and was greeted with Dedusmuln's face all but pressed against his helmet, their horns shining and their hair flowing gently in the breeze. Pongorma looked away as he was pulled back onto the airship, thanking the sages he didn't have the ability to blush.

After removing their arms from his waist, Dedusmuln returned to their relaxed look, knee slightly crooked, hand firmly grasping their sword's hilt. "So, do you mind telling me what all of that was about, Pongorma?"

"I-if you don't mind, I'd prefer to discuss it inside." Pongorma nervously glanced at the Wayne across from them, who was carelessly flapping her tail, completely unaware of either of their presence.

The two sat next to each other on the couch, Pongorma hunched over looking down and Dedusmuln with his legs crossed looking directly at him.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

Dedusmuln put their hand on Pongorma's back, rubbing it gently. "You talk to yourself a lot. Have you not noticed that?"

"I do remember Somsnosa telling me that once, but..." his voiced trailed off. He had no intention of finishing the thought.

They continued rubbing his back for a while. His fur coat felt was pleasant to the touch, made of a unique fabric he had sealed in the vault so long ago. It was the same material he made for Smuldunde's coat when they grew up; rubbing it reminded them of the expeditions the two siblings would have, searching the ruins for paper cups and other trinkets. Before they knew it, their head was resting on Pongorma's shoulder, their hand moving from his back to around his other shoulder and resting on his chest. Pongorma opened his mouth to object, but decided to leave it alone — after all, time Dedusmuln spent sleeping on him was time he didn't have to spend explaining himself to them.

Unfortunately, Pongorma's respite was short-lived. A Wayne larva briefly rubbing against their foot was enough to wake Dedusmuln from their trance, and they quickly regained their composure and resumed their interrogating stare.

Pongorma grunted. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want to know what you've been hiding. I can see that you're suffering, even under that helmet, and I want to help."

He was a little stunned at how upfront they were about it. "You heard what Gibby said. I've been around for centuries. I've seen things unimaginable to any of you. Things that are much better left undescribed, hidden underneath a helmet."

"You realize I'm the last person that excuse works on, right?"

"On the contrary, my dear archaeologist, you're the one I want to protect the most. If I told you some of the atrocities I've had to bear witness to, it would kill your passion for the ages of yore quicker than it killed mine to see the future."

Dedusmuln took a moment to digest that. They got up off the couch, walked to the other end of the airship and came back standing right in front of Pongorma. In a flash, they removed one of their gloves and slapped him across the face with it before swiftly returning it to their hand.

Pongorma's head was unmoved. Dedusmuln quickly checked and found that there were now multiple holes in their glove. The two of them then stared directly at each other.

"Are you... going to explain that unruly gesture?"

"I slapped you."

"I could tell."

"I tried to, anyway."

"And?"

"It didn't really work."

"No, no it didn't."

"What's that thing made out of anyway?"

"You don't get to ask me questions after slapping me."

"Fine." Dedusmuln sighed and returned to the couch. "Pongorma, do you really think Smul and I only find trinkets and paper cups? For every toy we show off to you or Wayne or Somsnosa, there are dozens of weapons and torture devices we keep sealed away in a vault under Foglast. Just the other day, we found a diary of a child who was abandoned in a city under siege. We couldn't figure out where she would have died pre-accretion, but some bones we found nearby indicate-"

"That's enough!" Tears were beginning to form in Pongorma's eyes again as the memories began to flood in. A little more and it would have been audible.  
Dedusmuln's eyes widened. It had become clear to them that this was their one and only chance to see him at his most vulnerable; there was no time to waste now.

"Hey. Take off your helmet." It was said as half a request and half a command, with just enough ambiguity to make sure Pongorma couldn't tell which one it was truly meant as.

"W-what? Why?"

"I wanna see your face."

"You've seen my face. Multiple times."

"I wanna see what it looks like right now. Look, I'll do the same thing," they said, pointing to their own head as their horns gave way to show their whole face to him.

In any other situation, Dedusmuln would have been on their way to the Afterlife a split second later. Not even Wayne was allowed to request that. But Pongorma was vulnerable. He knew refusing would only drive him further into a corner and confirm all of Dedusmuln's suspicions. He quietly let out a sigh, and complied.

Pongorma stared at Dedusmuln, the two's bare faces exposed to one another. Before he could utter a word, Dedusmuln's face had shot forward, pressing their lips firmly against his. Without him realizing it, their arms were tightly wrapped around his shoulders, and their head tilted as if to confirm that what was going on was, in fact, a kiss. The thought of pulling away was only half-formed in Pongorma's mind before Dedusmuln's horns wrapped around his head, pulling them together and all but forcing him to return their embrace. For a few seconds that felt like an hour, Pongorma's mind went completely blank. Gone were the traumatic memories, the war and painful deaths. For the first time in centuries, he felt... happy.

Dedusmuln pulled away, their horns returning to their normal state, expecting to be blasted with seven hits of lightning in a row, instead greeted by Pongorma's blubbering face and the ugliest sobbing they had ever heard in their life. Pongorma hugged them tighter than he did moments ago as he lay his head on their shoulder, his tears nearly pouring down onto the couch.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Dedusmuln. I should have told you everything."

They patted him on the back of the head. "It's okay. You can tell me from now on."

"I will."

"And don't hide your tears from me anymore. I want to see you cry."

"I'll show you. But only you."

"I love you, Pongorma."

At this, Pongorma ended their embrace and put his helmet back on. "I... I don't know if love is an emotion I can feel anymore," he said solemnly, "but if it is... then I love you too."

It wasn't the answer Dedusmuln wanted, but it was good enough. They smiled, happy they could finally get through to the most stubborn creature on the planet.

The two returned to the table, Dedusmuln having set the pieces back to where they were before Pongorma's outburst. Dedusmuln had begun taking back control of the game, but Pongorma wasn't done yet. As he weighed his options, he noticed he was able to block his opponent's movement so long as one square remained unoccupied...

...The very square Dedusmuln had recommended he move to earlier.

Pongorma knew what would be waiting for him when he looked up. The biggest shit-eating grin was sitting right under Dedusmuln's horns. It dawned on him that he had fallen for them in every single way. He was completely defeated.

As Dedusmuln looked up, their head still pounding from Pongorma's fist, they were elated at seeing the game board intact. He would have broken it if he didn't want to play again.  
"I'll call him tomorrow," they thought, drifting back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first fanfic, if you have any thoughts or criticism feel free to comment!


End file.
